


Temptations

by Daerwyn



Series: A Collection of Drabbles by Helmaninquiel [77]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, colonial AU, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 03:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8311966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daerwyn/pseuds/Daerwyn
Summary: Imagine being a mermaid princess who is in love with Thranduil.





	

You were drawn to the wreckage when you first noticed the smoke settling in the horizon. The unmistakable smell of burning ship and death, and the fire that seemed to put the sun to shame in the night. It was always best to forage the remains of the ships as they sunk, when you were sure the lives aboard were lost. **  
**

It was the way your father had taught you to search for new supplies and tradable goods for the kingdom. The best ships would sink, or be burned in a sea battle.

And with the fleets of ships now crossing the seas, into your father’s kingdom, it meant there were even more pickings than there had ever been.

The ship had not yet sunk, and so when you arrived, swimming as close as you dared to avoid the ropes, you let your tail pulse under you, keeping you in place. Debris floated away from the ship as it began to capsize, barrells full of light goods, tattered sails, logs.

You saw no offending ship, yet by the state of the ship in front of you, you could only suspect pirates.

They frequented enough, stole what they could, but not everyone valued the same items you coveted. While they’d steal the silvers and the worthless munition.

You were after only so little - the silks, the fabrics, the disregarded clothing in times of panic. They were priceless, valuable beyond measure.

The more you managed to score in a raid, the more pleased the king would be. And you very much loved making your father happy.

Yet the sinking ship caught your attention for little more than a moment once you spotted it. The man with blood staining the water and attracting dangerous predators that even you feared. The man dressed finely, though tattered and beaten down. The man whose hair rivaled yours in length and beauty, saturating the sea around him, turning the water a pink with the moonlit vibrance.

He could not have been real, he was beyond beautiful. Beyond the likes of any other terr-man.

He was floating, his body too exhausted to remain awake, but he had managed to pull himself onto a piece of wood that had broken off of the ship. A flotation device that would last him for some time, at least, until he died of dehydration and starvation.

You were days from land, at your own speed. At the sea’s drifting current, he would be months away.

But you could not abandon him over the silks. That much you were certain of. It was inexplicable, how attached to him you became just looking at him - mesmerized by the silver lengths of hair and the finely woven fabrics. He was dressed much like your father said the king’s of old dressed. In fabrics your father would place the highest value on.

You were tempted to take them from his body, as he would die soon anyway, and the sharks and gulls would care nothing for the fabric but to devour it as well in their harvest. But you couldn’t. It went against every fiber in your being, every ambition you had ever placed. You could not strip him bare, you could not dishonor his likely wealthy heritage.

You could not explain why, but you refused. Instead, you swam closer, sniffing to detect how fatal his wounds were. You could always smell death on the sailors that fell in their ship’s demise. And he had the scent masked by an odd one - not just the sweat of the unfortunate battle, but something flowery. A perfume, unlike any you had smelled on men before. Extremely powerful, and a flower from a land you had never walked.

You reached, almost afraid to touch him, and brushed back some of his long hair from his face. You found the wound easily - a gash across the forehead that bled down the side of his face, and into the sea. But it was not the worst of it. Horrible burns, as if he had been caught in the fire, marring his cheek.

It must have hurt horribly, in the salt water, had he been awake. But the pain was likely too much, and the blood loss before it had slowed… had probably driven him to his unconsciousness. You wanted to help him, the seven seas as your witness.

You had to help him.

You pulled him off of the makeshift raft, and gathered him in your arms, his body much heavier than you had anticipated. To swim to shore the fastest way, you would have to go underwater to avoid resistance. And so pulling the hair farther from his face, mesmerized by how it felt between our fingers - sleeker than any silks you had plucked from the ocean’s depths, you could see his face more. Did all men look like this from where he came from?

Taking a deep breath of air, you pulled him to your height and placed your lips upon his own. As you exhaled, your fingers gripping into his arms tightly, you dove under the water, taking him with you. Leaving the undoubtedly precious silks behind.

You were not expected to return from your trip for weeks, and so your absence wouldn’t be noted until the human was already gone. You reached land in two days, swimming through the nights and likely leaving a trail of predators in your wake.

But the human would not wake in your hands, with a kiss of a mermaid on his lips, nor would he drown. He was safe, until he was dragged upon land when the spell would break.

The man’s eyes opened near dawn, and from where you sat beside him in the sand, your fins flopping as the tide brushed against your skin to keep you wet, you saw that they were a blue so light they were almost gray.

He blinked lazily at you, and then gasped, surging upright. “My ship!” And then there was a groan of pain as his wounds seemed to be agonizing. You would imagine. You had not felt fire, but you knew that it could become extremely hot.

“Gone,” you spoke gently. You glanced towards the horizon. “It is too deep for anyone to find again.”

“I was knocked into the water… “ The man’s hand came to his forehead, remembering a blow to it, and he winced as his hands carefully felt along the angry red burn along the side of his face. “My memory fails after that.”

“My name is Y/N,” you said softly. “I rescued you.”

He gave you his full attention, and he took in your face first, before the bareness of your skin. His eyes widened at the sight of your tail, soaking up the tide, you sat proudly and unashamed. “What are you?”

“I go by many names, but your people know me as a mermaid.” He stared at you as if you were mesmerizing. As if you were a treasure taht he did not think was real. “I am Princess of the Atlantic, daughter of the King under the seven seas, silk bearer and the people’s voice.” She took in his face, the way his eyes lingered on her own instead of the tail, and then took in his clothing. “Who are you?”

He was silent for a moment, as if the question was difficult to answer. “A British Royal Navy Officer, Commodore Thranduil.” Thranduil. Somehow, the name suited him and his eyes. You dipped your head in greeting. “How can this be? How are you real?”

“Souls are lost at sea,” you spoke simply. “The sea will only save some. My father is one of them.”

He glanced towards the ocean, and frowned. “We were… attacked, pirates. I was blown into the water.”

“The salt will keep your wounds clean for now, but the more you touch it, the higher the risk of sand getting trapped into it.” Thranduil’s hand dropped immediately. “The rest of your party is dead, unfortunately.” The way he frowned made your heart clench unwillingly. “I managed to get you to safety.”

“Thank you,” Thranduil said softly. He met your gaze before looking around. “Where are we exactly?” Each word was ground out as if speaking was a lot of pain, but he needed to speak to keep his sanity.

“Land.”

“Which land?” Thranduil pressed. “There are many on this side of the world.” You… you didn’t know. You were at a loss for what he meant. You didn’t know land names, just the seas. He saw your expression, as you stared at the water trying to gather your bearing from the shore. “Perhaps that was the wrong question to ask.”

“I’ve never been on land this long, nor have I ever talked to someone from the mainland,” you admitted.

Thranduil frowned. “Then why did you rescue me?”

You glanced to him, your wide eyes holding his without faltering. “I don’t know. I felt that I had to.”

Unsure of what to say, he stood on the beach, taking his time to catch his balance, and he clutched his head as if the slight gash still pained him. Perhaps it did. You didn’t know how fast humans healed. Staring up at the sky, he used a method that was extremely familiar to you. He was using the stars for navigation, what little of them could be seen at dawn. You did not think humans used such simple means, with all the gadgets they possessed. But Thranduil’s sand covered robes and tangled hair fell down his back with a certainty, and as he stared up at the sky, you admired his profile.

Humans were tall, taller than you had ever known. And they balanced so well on such stick-like legs. Thranduil’s body was lean, wiry as if there were coils of muscles underneath his skin, and years of service in this royal navy he claimed to be apart of.

“We’re not too far from where I was supposed to be making port. The sky indicates somewhere near Port Royal.” You didn’t know what name that was, even when he turned towards you in question. “Are there any ports near here?”

“This isn’t my water. My sister controls these parts,” you admitted. “It was a miracle I was not seen by her in the first place.” You flicked your tail. “I cannot be seen with you. Humans interracting with my kind is forbidden. We are to be kept secret.”

“Then why did you save me?”

You frowned. “I don’t know.”

He stepped towards you, and when he held out a hand, you were hesitant to accept it. The fact that he was willing to touch you, despite your appearances, made your heart flutter. “I am forever grateful.” You returned the smile he pressed towards you. “If this is your sister’s waters, then we are no longer in the Atlantic.”

“Caribbean,” you agreed. “A few hundred miles into it, from my bearings, but other than that, I can’t tell you more. I never come here.”

“Yet you did, for me.”

“For you, yes,” you admitted. You dropped your gaze to the hand that was still clutching your own, tightly. Anchoring you to the land. You flushed and squeezed back. “Lands that border my sea were farther from your ship wreck than these islands. Very few travel to my western border, but they all leave from my eastern ones.”

“And your lands extend all the way north and south?”

“To lands even still undiscovered by men,” you agreed. His eyes sparked in interest. “My father rules a sea that your type have not seen before.”

“My type?”

“Fair of skin and hair,” you nodded carefully. “I never once saw them as a child. Of course, that could have changed in the recent years since I’ve been gone, but everyone in my father’s waters are dark of hair and tanner of skin.” He seemed puzzled. “You have not been, I take it.”

“I’ve heard of where you are talking, but my post has always been on colonies in the west.” You nodded, and as you moved to let go of him, he reached for you, gently, his other hand coming to your cheek. “Your skin is slick as water, yet you are dry.”

Lifting your gaze, you saw that he was curious as he ran a thumb down your cheek. It caused you to shudder. No one touched you, least of all liked this. The only physical contact you had was between family. Never outsiders - never a human. “And your eyes are like starfish, five pointed and the color of seashells.” You did not remove your gaze from his own eyes, and he did not seem afraid, though you were different from him entirely. You had never seen women of his kind, but you would venture that they looked nothing like you.

“We are born of the sea,” you said softly. He was still touching you, and was much warmer than even the sun could make you. “The seas form us and take their beauty into a single being. We know no other home but the sea. Long, long ago, we’d be hunted by your kind. But we learned to avoid your ships, to only scavenge if there were any wrecks. But never anything before.” You glanced away from him suddenly, swallowing the hammering of your pulse down deep into your body. “I must go soon. It is nearly morning.”

“What is wrong with the morning?”

“Water dries in light,” you said as you unwound your fingers from his hand. “I must return to the sea. Staying on land for too long could kill me-”

“I will never see you again.” It was not said as a question, or a hope, but as a resignation. You froze in your attempts to scoot closer to the water, and glanced back at the commodore. Thranduil was staring at you.

“When you sail the waters between your home and your duty, we will meet again, but not before. We will never meet like this again. Staying this long was a mistake.”

“Then let me offer you something to show my gratitude-”

“There’s no need,” you tried, moving once more to the water, but he grabbed your arm, kneeling on the sand beside you. You gasped at how close he was.

“A kiss, for luck-”

You frowned. “Why? You are not in water, it will do nothing for you.”

“Why would water change anything?”

You stared at him a moment. “I think a kiss to you is something very different than it is for me.”

Thranduil stared at you a moment. “Let me show you.” You let him. He was slow, moving closer to your face, much like you had in the middle of the sea. Only, this was not granting him some magic to last him the journey. This was… devoid of all that. And instead, a soft moment of lips meeting lips, and a tasting of emotions that were otherwise distant from you. This was … human. A way a human expressed something other than life-saving power.

When he pulled away, you were feeling things that you had never felt before. Emotions that you could not have for someone human. For anyone.

Staring at him, breathing fast and fear building in your stomach, you felt the next wave coming. And as it splashed around you you dove into the water, away from him, ignoring the cry of alarm that emitted from him with your speed.

And you swam as far from him as you could get. You could not love him, when there was no chance of ever being with him. In your grip, you clutched tightly a silver button that had been on his robes. So that you would never forget, but never go back.


End file.
